


A Familiar Heaven

by oswinpxnd



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:26:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oswinpxnd/pseuds/oswinpxnd
Summary: Alfred finds himself reunited with a special someone after years of mourning and loneliness.





	A Familiar Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for awhile but never had the motivation to actually write it until about a week ago, I was originally going to post this on my Tumblr page but it was too long for the character count so here we are!
> 
> It's only a short story and i'm not the best at writing fanfics but hopefully it's enjoyable!  
> Thank you to LuckyMoony for proof-reading this before hand and fixing any small errors that i had. <3

 

October 22nd, 1888

 

Alfred Paget, now a retired old man, was sitting upright in his bed, enjoying the afternoon sunlight shine through his bedroom windows. His house was quiet, no children (never bothered to have any) or guests or servants around, just him and the sound of him flipping the pages of a book he was reading, his wife, Wilhelmina, was in another place in their house doing god knows what that he didn’t care knowing for. Alfred did care for his wife but never loved her anymore than a best friend, it’s been a long time since he truly loved someone.

 

Alfred was ill and was literally on his death bed these days but that didn’t seem to worry him as much as it probably should, he lived a beautiful, long and fulfilled life and Alfred believed it was his time to go when it came. He wasn’t scared or worried but rather pleased, at-least if gave him a reason to stay in bed all day.

As Alfred was flipping through the pages of his book, his breathing very hoarse, he grew bored of whatever he was reading and tossed it to his bedside. He drew in a shaky sigh, feeling his energy drain as he looked around his dull room. His eye was caught on a book that was sitting with a stack of other books on his bed-side table that a servant put there for him earlier. Alfred reached and took it from the stack, knocking down the other books in the process which he watched fall and shrugged, not bothering to call a servant to pick them back up for him.

Alfred looked at the cover of the book he was holding, ‘ _The Iliad_ ’ it read. It was old, Alfred has had it since he was a young man, he smiles as he remembers the first time he read it but it fades as he is reminded on why he hasn’t read it since.

 

_“I saw you were reading the Iliad on the boat.”_

_“not the original, i’m afraid.”_

Alfred coughed, feeling mucus in his throat build up, still looking at the book in his lap having old memories flood back to him.

 

“ _I find the death of Patroclus most effecting.”_

_“Yes, the lengths Achilles went to to honor his **friend**.”_

_“You believe they were friends?”_

Alfred laughed a bit thinking of the irony in the conversation he was remembering,

 

“I wouldn’t know what else to call them.” he said quietly out loud, mocking what an old  ** _friend_**  of his replied to his question.

Alfred smiled sadly, stroking the cover of The Iliad.

He’s moved on since then, he’s had no choice, and it’s been awhile since his mind has been haunted by  _him._

When Alfred was younger it was pure hell to live and act like everything was fine, smiling and laughing at every joke, listen in to every conversation and act interested to any royal drama that happened when he worked for Her Majesty, Victoria, when he was really crushed and empty on the inside, forever weeping for his dear  _ **friend**. **Friend? Was that really the word?**_

 

Alfred looked out the window, to the afternoon sunlight.

 

“Midsummer evenings seem so enchanting... don’t you think?” he whispered, feeling tears form in his eyes.

It started to get harder for Alfred to breathe as his lungs were now fragile and weak from illness, but he didn’t call for medical help.

 

_Edward was his name,_

_Edward Drummond._

Though it was less frequent than it was when Drummond first died, there was never really a day where Alfred didn’t think of him. His ghost always haunting his memory.

He still had the locket of Drummond’s hair that Wilhelmina gave to him on his first Christmas without him. Alfred was too weak and tired to look for it in the drawers of his bed-side table, but instead kept looking out the window.

The sunlight seemed to respond to his thoughts, moving its warm rays over to his bed and face, glistering in his blonde, yet faded, hair.

Alfred closed his eyes and enjoyed the warmth and peacefulness of the sunlight, lost in thought of how his life was when he was younger.

He started to breathe slower and slower until.. it stopped.

 

Suddenly Alfred could feel the warmth of the sunlight all around him, and then he could smell the scents of grass and fresh air around him as well. Alfred opened his eyes after he realized he was breathing much easier than he has in awhile, he found himself standing in a place that felt familiar to him. Alfred looked down at himself, and saw he was wearing clothes he hasn’t worn since he was-...

He was young again.

 

“Alfred?”

 

Alfred’s heart dropped. He  _knew_  that voice. It’s been so long since he’s heard it.

 

“I-is that finally you?”

 

The voice was coming from behind him, the same direction the sunlight was hitting him. Alfred turned around and there he was, Drummond standing about 20 feet away, in the same outfit he wore at that evening in Scotland.

 

_Scotland. that’s where i’m at._

Alfred just stood there, staring at him. The sunlight outlined Drummond’s body like an angel and it glistened in the pond behind him.

Drummond stared back at him, first in confusion but now with pure relief. Alfred smiled with tears forming in his eyes.

 

“Drummond.”

 

Both Alfred and Drummond ran to each other, hugging as they met.

Tears and laughter and love and  _happiness_  covered them both as they were finally reunited once again.

“i waited so long for you here, you know.”

Drummond said still with Alfred in his arms.

“and i have missed you, So  _so_  much.” Alfred replied, neither of them wanting to let go.

 

“i appreciate your visits with me though, but it’s been awhile since you last said hello.”

Alfred finally let go and looked at Drummond, the sunlight hitting both of their faces just as it did those years ago.

“You saw me?” Alfred asked,

“Yes of course i saw you!” Drummond chuckled,

“i always did, and i always checked up on you as you did with me.”

He stroked Alfred’s cheek, wiping away a tear in the process.

Drummond hesitated before speaking again, Alfred could tell he was thinking.

 

“and.... i’m sorry that i walked out on you and that we didn’t get to enjoy the champagne and oysters together that one night... trust me when i say i was on my way to Ciro’s but then-..”

 

“No, no it’s okay! That’s behind us and all that matters is here and now. We have each other for as long as we want.” Alfred smiled, his blue eyes and blonde hair glowing more than ever.

 

Now it was Alfred’s turn to hesitate and think. He was just taking everything in. Here he was, with the person he loved most, he was dead he supposed and in Scotland, which to him, was heaven. It was very overwhelming to him and he didn’t know what to think.

 

“I felt so alone after you were gone.” Alfred finally said,

“I was having dreams and nightmares about you for years... you truly haunted my brain Drummond it was pretty distracting.”

 

“I’m flattered.” they both laughed.

 

“In all seriousness though..” Alfred broke his gaze from Drummond’s eyes.

 

“i missed you more than you could imagine.”

 

“Just know that i was always there with you. Even if you couldn’t feel me, i was, as much as i could, i was there.”

 

The sun was warm, and you could hear birds and dragonflies everywhere along with a calm breeze. It was peaceful and  _heavenly._

Alfred perked a smile and linked his gaze with Drummond again.

 

“Midsummer evenings are so enchanting, don’t you think Edward?”

 

Drummond smiled, recognizing his reference and as they both chuckle, they kiss. No interruptions, no rules, no people, just them and the sun.

 

It was perfect for the both of them, nothing could have been better and they couldn’t have been happier.

 

 

 

Wilhelmina made sure Alfred’s grave was set beside Drummond’s. She also has not forgotten him, and there was surprisingly an open empty ‘spot’ right beside his stone to put Alfred’s.

She understood what they meant to each other and she wanted that to be his last gift to him.

Wilhelmina kissed her hand and touched Alfred’s grave,

 

“I hope you have a great time with him dear, you deserve it.”

 

 

and so they did, now forever together, souls intertwined into one created from pure love.

 

 

_“you believe they were friends?”_

_“... i wouldn’t know what else to call them.”_


End file.
